OK, time for a total newbie (to competition) to chime in...

As a 30-year-old 110-hour glider pilot (having watched DVDs like "A
Fine Week of Soaring" and "Gladiators of the Sky", and seeing the
discussions of renowned champions online), race events are
intimidating! Its a supportive community and I am thrilled at the
seemingly fierce-but-still-friendly competition - however that doesn't
stop the event from being intimidating. There are all kinds of rules,
scoring issues, the potential for new and strange terrain or flying
challenges - oh, AND the fact that you're going to be compared to some
really good pilots!

If you want to lure new folks in like me (I was going to fly Region 8
this year but work prevented it), you need to provide an EASY avenue
to do it. The World Class has failed (speaking as someone who bought
a Russia AC-4), the Standard & 15-meter classes are seemingly chock-
full of fancy and expensive racers, and the 18m or Open class are just
unthinkable in terms of dollar amounts for most folks! Look at me - I
was making $30/hour when I bought my Russia, I don't have a mortgage
to pay (just rent on a small apartment), and I have no car payment...
I live on the expensive West Coast (Seattle area), but I make a higher-
than-average wage compared to the general populace and even then a
$20k glider-budget was just about all I could justify. Frankly I
think part of the reason the average glider-pilot-age is so high is
because it takes until retirement to be able to afford a $100k
"modern" glider!!! :-)

Looking at the numbers and the barriers to entry: if the SRA wants to
draw more people in, they need to concentrate on a non-intimidating
and easy-to-get-into class for new folks to try it out. It can be
competitive, it can have good pilots, and it can include fancy
aircraft (I don't think most newbies want to be coddled or need to be
guaranteed a trophy their first time out) - but it needs to be
straightforward and pilots need to be able to "run what they brung"
without worries over SSA vs IGC vs FAI technicalities / crap. They
need to be able to experience the competition without a major
commitment, and _then_ if they like it they will start spending lots
of time and money to get better gear and compete at higher levels -
but those choices and priorities won't come until AFTER they have
tried a basic event or two.

I strongly believe that the idea of classes which help grow sailplane
racing and promote the sport of gliding in general have NOTHING to do
with International competition or the selection of a US Team. Look at
auto-racing as a guide - I used to be heavily involved in that sport
and have crewed or driven in NASCAR, Autocrosses, SCCA Road-course
racing, Off-road Rally, Trans-Am events, and more... No matter what
the racing format, the people seriously vying for a "national team" or
international competition are always an EXTREMELY small sub-set of the
overall competitor population. And the reasons for that are obvious -
you not only have to have the talent and skill to be a top-tier
competitor, but you have to have the time, money, and equipment; and
these can be formidable obstacles to the average competitor! There is
no denying the special atmosphere and excitement of a National or
World championship; but while that might inspire some existing pilots
and competitors to "aim high", it won't do much for getting new folks
into competition.

Let's look at a more specific example: Autocrossing. This form of
auto-sport can be done by anyone with a street-legal car that has
seatbelts. It costs $20 - $30 for a day of competition at the basic
"club" or "local" level. The competition itself only involves 3 or 4
laps around a 1-minute course; but the barriers to entry are SO low
that events near major cities can draw 100 - 200 competitors per day,
and do so consistently over an 8 to 16-event season! The next level
of autocross competition in the USA is the "National Tour" events or
the "Pro Solo" events put on by the SCCA. These follow a similar
format to the "club" autocross events, but competition is a 2-day
affair, the average level of skill is higher, and the venues are
typically nicer. Costs increase by a factor of 5 or 10, but
surprisingly the attendance levels are still pretty good. Since 1 or
2 of these "Tour" type events are held in almost every State, a
motivated competitor can go to a handful of these events each year
without travelling too far (and it helps that the Tour events are only
a "long-weekend" affair, even with a day of travel). The National
Championship is held in the middle of the country (Topeka, KS) every
year, so that people from one coast or another don't have any special
advantage in terms of travel distance or "home field". The
championship event hosts a seriously-large number of competitors (I
think its somewhere around 600) over a week-long event, and it is
quite a sight to see!

But here's the crux of the issue: EVEN if they _double_ the number of
competitors at the National Championship, they're only adding 500 or
600 participants in total. AND most of those would likely be people
already competing at the mid-level events. Furthermore, given the
cost and time-commitment for this week-long event (on the part of
competitors AND organizers) it would be a monumental task to try to
grow that single event by that much. In contrast, growing the "club"
competitions by only 10% - 20% would add a HUGE number of new
participants, since there are literally hundreds of "local" Autocross
events held each year. If each local event averages 60 participants,
a simple 10% growth at 100 events would add as many new competitors
(and likely far more fresh faces to the sport) as doubling the big
National Championship - and it would do so with less cost and fewer
organizational headaches. And if your competition structure is good,
some of those new faces WILL go on to compete at the higher levels and
push those numbers up, too - just not by any huge amounts (because the
hurdles are simply too great for most people).

Returning to Soaring: I don't know all the ins and outs of the
various "Club" and "Sports" classes - but a basic competitor shouldn't
HAVE to be an expert. They should be able to sign up as a newbie in a
simple class (an indexed or handicapped class is fine), and get to
compete against others. If folks are concerned about aligning
themselves with International Championships or some other goal that
suits "higher levels of competition", they need to do so in a way that
does NOT have any impact on the entry-level pilots.

Thanks for listening/reading,

--Noel

For the curious, here's a little more background about me:
-----
In addition to my glider-time, I have 100 hours in power (got my PPL
SEL in mid-2006, about a year before getting my Glider rating). The
first 20 hours in gliders were spent in club aircraft - mostly
Blaniks, in weak conditions near Seattle, WA. I then bought a Russia
AC-4 and flew that for about 40 hours over a 10-month period - again,
mostly in weak-weather conditions. I studied like crazy, read every
book I could find on gliding, XC-flying, and weather... and I did a
lot of work with flight simulators like Condor. I wanted to enter the
Region 8 competition this year in Ephrata, but work prevented me from
having the time AND I'd never officially gotten my Silver badge
(although I had some 100 - 150km flights in my Russia). Fortunately
the insane work I did this year earned me a big promotion, and I was
able to step up to a primo DG-300. Its not a top competitor according
to all of the pundits; but for me it had the best blend of performance
(in the 40:1 or better category of gliders), ergonomics, and safety.
I acquired the glider in July and added about 50 hours to my Log-book
in July and August alone. Most of my flights in the DG have been
300km - 400km jaunts out in Ephrata, WA. I'm eager to take my skills
and experience and try competition, but I have a full-time job and
would like to own a house or a condo someday; so you're not going to
see me buying a high-dollar ship or traveling all over the country
anytime soon. I believe that I'm not alone in having limited time and
money to devote to the sport, even though it is my biggest passion.